Dogs and chains
e are so fully surrounded by such richly elegant vehicles that it almost defies belief. But sometimes the designers, their bosses and their customers’ bosses should be made to work with their products on a daily basis for at least six months, or perhaps life. Take the British Army’s £5.5 billion (A$10.2 billion) Ajax Armoured Vehicle project from reporting that the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has been called in to save Country Fire Service (CFS) blushes. It has responded with suitable flexibility, natch. It seems the Mount Compass CFS brigade was forced to take the $500,000 34P pumper back to HQ for being overweight due to rescue equipment. Some, um, practical folk at the CFC, who really should be on the front line permanently, offered the solution that the equipment could go on utes and the 3,000-litre-capacity vehicles could get by carrying only 2,250 litres. That’s half a mill for a net gain of 250 litres on the old trucks. Brilliant! Just how much can a koala bear!?
